-
Listening to something without being present is different from being there in the flesh.
Kurt Elling -
I didn't arrive on the scene until after Jaco Pastorius had passed, but 'Three Views of a Secret' is a long-time favourite of mine.
Kurt Elling
-
I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its ear. But sometimes, you just need to sing the song.
Kurt Elling -
I haven't been afraid of John Coltrane or Miles Davis or Bill Evans or Wayne Shorter or Herbie Hancock. Why would I be afraid of the Beatles?
Kurt Elling -
Chicago has a burly, action-oriented but still self-assured and relaxed confidence to its stride. The city has a lot of wide-open space and all the possibilities that suggests. There's a lot of horizontal grandeur here.
Kurt Elling -
I'm thrilled when I hear the greatest jazz musicians. They continue to search in ways other musicians do not.
Kurt Elling -
Salacious? I suppose every once in a while the salacious thing is not a bad thing. It's kind of monochromatic if that's all you do.
Kurt Elling -
I've got more low notes than I had when I started.
Kurt Elling
-
Part of my joy as a singer is to give gifts to people, and one way I try to connect to them is to add something in French or German or whatever.
Kurt Elling -
I've got enough miles under my belt to know that whatever you envision in your mind, even if it comes true, will only keep a shape in the most general way.
Kurt Elling -
I try to sleep as much as I can. I drink a lot of water. I practice consistently and just try to be ready for the gig.
Kurt Elling -
As improvisers, we're acting as composers in front of people.
Kurt Elling -
You want to be doing your best work whatever field of the arts you're in because your life's going to be over all too soon, and you have to make the most of it.
Kurt Elling -
Why limit yourself to one discipline or field of study?
Kurt Elling
-
It's easy to get tired of religious fundamentalists. They're such a bore. They have no sense of mystery. It's a drag, man.
Kurt Elling -
I hope that I'm also maturing emotionally as a human being as things go on.
Kurt Elling -
There's a wide spectrum of possibilities in how to deliver a song.
Kurt Elling -
I know how hard it's been for me to get my thing out there.
Kurt Elling -
Every record is a gate of a certain kind for me.
Kurt Elling -
There's a spiritual complement to any attempt at transposing a commitment to humanity through music or art.
Kurt Elling
-
I couldn't do what I do without the encouragement and influence of the musicians I played with in Chicago.
Kurt Elling -
I was very lucky that more experienced musicians allowed me to caterwaul until I figured out what it was really about.
Kurt Elling -
I spend upwards of 200 nights a year on the road.
Kurt Elling -
Karl Johnson, my first piano player at Milt Trenier's, he just swung really hard and gave me a sense of really belonging to the jazz scene.
Kurt Elling